CHAPTER XVII 

 Planting and General Care 



THE best time of year for general planting, according to my 

 experience, is autumn. Everyone may not have found 

 it so — many have not, I know— but that does not alter 

 the fact that I have And it seems to me perfectly logical that 

 it should be the best time, except for certain special things. 



Plants stir in the spring long before they wake, precisely like 

 a sleeper in a snug bed, conscious of a summons yet not quite 

 able to grasp its meaning. Through all their tender roots the 

 life force thrills first; then, little by little, it mounts until we 

 one day see the signs and say the " sap is running — soon the buds 

 will burst" — and spring is here! 



This waking-up time is a time of abovmding vigor and, if it 

 were not for things outside the plant itself, the period just pre- 

 ceding it would unquestionably be an ideal time for moving a 

 plant into new quarters. But spring weather conditions are the 

 most uncertain of uncertainties — and herein the danger lies. 



Lifting a plant from the place where it has been growing 

 deprives it of countless numbers of its fine feeding roots ; there- 

 fore it shuts off a portion of its food supply. New roots form 

 rapidly to take the place of those lost, when the ground is not 

 waterlogged, and when it keeps at an even temperature. In the 

 spring, however, the ground is more than likely to be water- 



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